


I'm Glad There Is You

by sying



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Coda, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2019-03-12 16:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13551498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sying/pseuds/sying
Summary: "Strip-club it is."A 1x04 coda.





	I'm Glad There Is You

**Author's Note:**

> Repost.
> 
> Huge thanks to [Signe](http://archiveofourown.org/users/oxoniensis/pseuds/Signe) for the encouragement and being an awesome beta.
> 
> Any remaining mistakes are mine.

 

_"So where should we go? Restaurant? Bar? Strip-club?"_  
_"Yeah, okay."_  
_"Hey, you all right?"_  
_"Yeah… I just always thought she was the one."_  
_"Strip-club it is."_

 

They're about halfway there when Leslie sighs. "I don't know if I'm in the right mood for a strip-club."

"That's why you go. You get your heart broken, you go see some pretty, limber, half-naked girls and _then_ you'll feel better. I promise."

She laughs a little. "Seriously? Is that what you did after Caroline?"

"Yeah, Andy and the guys dragged me out. It's what best friends do." It was the last time he and Andy had gone together – he'd married Heather shortly after and half-jokingly declared himself a decent man. Severide's memory of the night is hazy - blurred by alcohol consumed then and the passing years since - which he regrets more now than he ever did before.

"Okay," Shay agrees and suddenly she's walking with her back a little straighter than before. "Let's go check out some girls."

"That's the spirit." He bumps her shoulder. "Drinks and lap dances are on me."

 

* * *

 

"Dawson's gonna buy me new records," Shay tells him after they've gotten a table and slammed back their first shot.

He doesn't understand why she says it like that's a bad thing until she explains she was going to pick her old ones up at Clarice's but Dawson "practically forbade" her to see her ex-girlfriend again.

"Maybe that's a good thing, yeah?" The way Shay's been the past few days, he thinks Dawson might have made the right call.

"I don't know. Maybe." She fiddles with the menu card on the table and shrugs. "Yeah, I guess she's right. But they're my mom's and it's not the same when they're new, you know?" She tries to sound matter-of-fact but she's looking downhearted.

Over the years he's seen and experienced enough loss to know that some things just can't be replaced so yeah, he gets it. But he also knows Shay and what it's like to keep wanting to go back to a relationship that won't ever work again. He and Caroline had ruined more than what little good there'd been left between them that way, long after they'd already separated. They'd broken the trust of the people they'd been with then, with their cheating and lying. And by the time they'd finished fighting even the close bond between both their families had splintered.

"Maybe you're trying to find a reason to see her again?" he ventures gently. "I mean, you haven't had those records for a long time now."

"That's because I'd been putting off seeing her again," she grimaces as if she's embarrassed about even admitting it. "And they were Mom's," she says again. "New records wouldn't have the Nina Simone with that note from Dad on the sleeve, and I wouldn't have to push against the needle a little on 'Smokestack Lightning' so it doesn't skip back."

She's starting to look as sad as when they'd left their apartment so he gestures to a waitress for a refill. The place is starting to fill up and the volume of the music increases but admiring the pole dancers will have to wait for another couple of minutes.

"You have Clarice's number?"

"Yeah," she frowns at him. "Why? You think I should call her anyway? I should, shouldn't I?" She produces a creased calling card and her phone from her coat pocket. "Just get it over with and I'll just be in and out of there—

He laughs at her. "No way. You're not calling her. Dawson would make my life hell. You know how scary she can get. Gimme that." He snatches the card from her hand. "I am gonna call her. You stay out of trouble."

"No! Kelly, wait!" she calls after him when he heads outside to make the call but he ignores her.

 

* * *

 

When he comes back inside a pretty dancer sways up to him to the beat of Mötley Crüe's tribute to girls, girls, girls.

"Hey baby, are you looking for a lap dance?" She's got a nice smile, long, dark hair and she's wearing thigh high stiletto boots. He thinks Shay would probably like her too.

"Yeah," he grins at her. "But not just yet, okay?"

"Later?"

"Later. Definitely."

He weaves his way through the crowd to get back to their table where he finds Shay getting hit on by a drunk college kid.

"Look, David-and-it's-my-birthday. You're probably a very nice guy but I'm here for the girls."

Severide sits down and sizes up the kid and, watching a little further behind him, a group of more college kids.

"And I'm here with him," she points at Severide.

David-and-it's-my-birthday blinks slowly a couple of times and suddenly his eyes widen. "Ah," he grins. "I get it. Kinky!" He winks at them and staggers off, leaving them trying not to laugh too obviously. He can't blame the guy; it's not like the thought never crossed _his_ mind in the beginning when he and Shay just knew each other. But as their friendship grew closer over time, that just faded away.

Shay sobers quickly though. "So?" She bites her lip nervously.

"I told her you really want your records back but you've a got a serious case of the flu. So tomorrow afternoon I'm swinging by her place to pick them up."

In a flash she lunges over the table, nearly knocking over their drinks, to give him a tight hug. "Thank you, Kel."

He tries not to wince at the pain her squeezing him causes and pats her back. "No problem."

"Okay, I'm done with that for tonight," she declares. "It's time to have some fun."

She waves for another round.

 

* * *

 

They've both got a bit of a buzz by the time the stripper who'd approached him earlier catches his eye. He nods and she makes her way over to them where she sits herself down on his knee and introduces herself as Melody.

"Are you guys having a good time?"

"Yes," Shay nods very enthusiastically. Definitely more than a bit of a buzz going on there.

Melody tugs at his necklace. "What's this?" She leans closer for a better look and he catches a whiff of her fruity perfume.

"It's a Saint Florian medal." He doesn't even have to look at Shay to know she's about to roll her eyes. This isn't exactly what he had in mind but he doesn't want to be rude and he can have a bit of fun.

"Patron saint?"

"Of firefighters, yeah."

She lets go of the medal and slides one of her legs to sit astride him. "So," she drawls, smiling seductively. "What's a good Catholic boy like you doing in a place like this?"

Shay snorts loudly. Very loudly.

He tucks the medal back underneath his shirt. "My friend here," he nods at Leslie, "needs some cheering up."

"Ah. You want to watch, darling?" she asks Shay.

"No," they respond together.

"Can you give her a lap dance?" Severide asks.

"Of course," Melody says without missing a beat and gracefully moves from his to Shay's lap. "I'd be very happy to." She smiles broadly at Leslie who looks over her shoulder at him with a huge grin.

"So is this your first time, honey?" Melody asks.

"At a strip-club? No, I've— Oh, you mean the lap dance. Yes, this is the first time. I mean, the first one from a professional lap dancer." She probably would have kept talking if Melody hadn't started gyrating to the new song.

By the time Melody has put back on what little she had to take off and sauntered off, Shay's ears are burning an interesting shade of red and her eyes are sparkling.

"That was fun," she grins at him. "A bit weird. But fun."

He silently agrees.

 

* * *

 

They're standing in front of the main stage where they've just slipped the pole dancer a couple more bucks when Shay wistfully says it's a shame they don't have poles at the firehouses any more.

He shakes his head at her. "Who do you wanna even see doing that? Dawson?"

She shrugs. He doesn't even want to know.

"You know one of the clowns would try to prove they can do this too, right?"

Shay takes her eyes off the girl sliding around the pole for a moment to look at him. "Andy would have."

He chuckles. "Yeah, he definitely would've. If he wouldn't have gotten some other suckers to do it."

They're quiet for a minute as they continue to watch the dancing.

"You know who would probably rock that thing if he'd really go for it?" Shay says, thoughtfully and dead-serious.

He gives her a sideways look.

"Chief Boden," she says. "And maybe Casey."

At this point he's not sure if they need to drink less or more but more is a good way to avoid this particular conversation so he heads for the bar.

 

* * *

 

He kind of regrets that decision when he's helping Shay up the stairs at home hours later. She's a dead weight around his neck and he's not exactly completely steady on his feet anymore either. After several stumbling and failed attempts on Leslie's part to take off her boots and clothes, he steps in to give her a hand before she winds up smashing her face on the nightstand.

"I'm getting you some water," he says when they've finally gotten her blouse over her head. "You put this on in the meantime." He throws her nightshirt at her.

When he comes back from the bathroom, she's sitting on the bed with her alarm-clock, nightshirt on inside out.

"Hey, what time are we going running tomorrow?" she asks.

He grins at her. "At ten past your hangover."

He ignores her huff and takes the alarm-clock from her, giving her the glass of water instead. "Drink this."

"I'm not that drunk," she insists. "But maybe you are and you're afraid I'll leave your ass behind."

He sits down next to her on the bed. "Shay, you spent at least ten minutes talking to that waitress about how people are like the cocktails they drink."

"But it's true when you think about it. You know, with the layers and the different—"

Oh god, he can't listen to this all over again. "Yeah, yeah, we heard you loud and clear. C'mon, go to sleep."

She puts the glass down on the nightstand. "Do you think she liked me?"

"Before or after that conversation?" He laughs at her.

"Jerk." She pushes at his face.

"Drunk." He pushes at her shoulder until she falls back into the pillows and pulls the covers over her. "Go to sleep."

"Hey Kelly?" she says with her eyes already closed.

"Leslie?"

"I really had fun tonight."

"Told you."

He brushes the hair from her face, turns off the light and heads for his own bed.

 

 

THE END

 

 

([Nina Simone – Little Girl Blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT_Z-D31vbU)  
[Howlin' Wolf – Smokestack Lightning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeE7QJmcI3U)  
[Mötley Crüe – Girls, Girls, Girls](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2XdmyBtCRQ)  
[Ella Fitzgerald - I'm Glad There Is You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nAgKmOmpyA))


End file.
